Dissonance (The Machina of Time Book 2)

by Daniel R. Burkhard

  "What?" Linda said. Her smile vanished from her face, and she spread her arms to the sides with her palms up.

  "How long have you been here?" Avery asked again.

  "Why does your wrist terminal show 5:50 am?" Wyatt asked when Linda acted like she didn't comprehend the question. "Was that so you could make it appear the resonance doesn't affect you."

  "I don't know what you are talking about," Linda said. "I have this"—she twisted her right hand to show her wrist terminal's display—"set for a time I can get to if things go bad."

  "Sure," Jeremy said, stepping alongside Aldan. "Why don't you really tell us what you are after?" Aldan's taller frame and Jeremy's short, stocky frame, standing close to Linda made her look even more childish.

  Linda looked toward Wyatt and shook her head. "You said an older version of Aldan wanted you to trust me. You mentioned it happened here. What changed your mind now?"

  Wyatt cursed and watched Aldan and Jeremy for a moment. He shrugged. "I remembered Aldan's words incorrectly," he said. "He didn't say you were the key, or even a key. He said you were quite important to this."

  "There you go," Linda said, turning her attention back to Aldan and Jeremy. "Trust me."

  Avery had moved around Linda's right side as Linda spoke. Wyatt didn't think Linda noticed. Her attention was focused on Aldan and Jeremy, who were the larger threats.

  "That doesn't prove anything," Avery and Jeremy said at the same time.

  "All that proves," Avery began, "is that Aldan wanted Wyatt to pay attention to you. Why are we here now?"

  "You asked me to come," Linda said, her smile partially returning as she glanced upward.

  Wyatt couldn't help thinking she was looking for something in the sky. He remembered seeing the drone the last times he had been on the dirt road. So far, it was not in the air above them. He didn't hear any whirring of the electric motors.

  "What are you watching for?" Wyatt asked as the resonance blossomed around them. Dizziness flooded his mind and his stomach lurched as portals opened all around him.

  A portal had opened near them. Wyatt felt the dizziness drop him to his knees, as Avery stopped her approach. She bent over to support herself with her hands on her knees.

  "What have you done?" Wyatt asked, as someone stepped into the road to his right. He tried to get a good glance at the person, but what he saw scared him.

  "Jarod needed a little more help," a version of Linda, standing in a dark brown coat said as she stopped on the road over ten feet away.

  "That's why we are here," a version of Linda dressed in a pink coat that was too large for her said from Wyatt's left.

  The resonance didn't end, every few seconds a new version of Linda would arrive and announce herself. Beyond the Linda they had arrived with, they were soon joined by five others. One wore a gray windbreaker that would have fit the older version of Avery. That one stood near the version of Linda with the oversized pink coat.

  The Linda with the dark brown coat stepped closer, with another Linda behind. That Linda wore a white jacket that looked like the white coat the older version of Hannah had worn when she had been seen as the woman in white. Except this small woman's white jacket was not as thick. Wyatt realized she had been the same version he had seen speaking with Gene earlier.

  The view hurt Wyatt's mind, and he saw Avery had dropped to her knees also. Jeremy and Aldan wavered in their stances.

  CHAPTER thirty-one

  DIRT ROAD, R720RS

  SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2040, 6:25 AM

  As Wyatt pushed himself back to his feet, he heard the familiar whirring overhead.

  "We've got a few minutes before we really need that?" the Linda in the pink coat said, raising both arms to let the sleeves of the large coat slide along her arms. When her hands were clear, she rubbed her face. She looked to be the same age as the Linda they had come here with.

  "Why are you here?" Avery asked as Wyatt saw her move toward Aldan and Jeremy. "What are you doing to us?"

  The original Linda laughed and looked away. It took Wyatt a moment to realize she was looking at the drone that now flew overhead. That drone was the same white color with four motors that he had seen when he arrived later that day. That drone was important, somehow, but he wasn't sure if it was a drone one of the versions of Linda brought.

  "It's time we fix the mess," that first version of Linda said. The others seemed to remain quiet, waiting for her to speak, which seemed odd. "Gather in here." That coatless version of Linda said as she motioned toward Aldan and Jeremy.

  Wyatt stepped cautiously toward her. He tried to replay the words of the older Aldan in his mind and wondered. The memory wouldn't work. He knew what that older version of Aldan had said, but that was it.

  "How can you stand here so close to your other versions?" Jeremy asked.

  "She already said she doesn't feel the resonance," Avery responded. "I bet that is why she doesn't feel that tugging at reality."

  Wyatt caught her glance in his direction as she stepped between the versions of Linda with the gray windbreaker and the pink coat. He thought she was urging him to continue with the direction of her words.

  "Is this the first time you have been in the same time with a different version?" Wyatt asked, glancing toward Aldan and Jeremy. Aldan nodded briefly as if he would have asked the same question. Jeremy saw Aldan's nod and his eyes narrowed. Wyatt waited for any of the Linda's to respond.

  "Not for me," the Linda in the pink coat said, raising her arms again. She seemed to be distracted as she fought with the sleeves of that coat.

  The Linda in the gray windbreaker stepped next to her and rolled the pink sleeve up on that side.

  "This proves you aren't affected by the resonance," Wyatt said.

  "He's said that before," the Linda in the dark brown coat said still standing on Wyatt's right. "Don't let it bother you. He's going to say that without the resonance, we can't feel the changes that are happening."

  "What he doesn't realize," the Linda in the white coat began, stepping alongside the one in the dark brown coat, "is that we have changed everything already. We've fixed it. The dissonance that had formed because of their actions is over."

  "No," Wyatt said, thinking furiously. "It isn't over. We still remember the events the way they happened."

  "That's right," Avery said, stopping near Jeremy on the other side of Aldan from where Wyatt stood. They stood in a semi-circle, with the six versions of Linda closing in.

  The older version of Aldan's comments about Linda ran through Wyatt's mind, but he wasn't sure what that version of Aldan had wanted him to hear.

  "Don't believe him," the Linda dressed in the pink coat said to the Linda that had come with them. "We've experienced this before. We're doing the right thing here. They need to be stopped. They're ruining time travel. Don't let them travel, or the paradox will continue."

  "What?" Avery said. "We can't ruin something we have been chosen to protect."

  "The Machina can see this," Wyatt said, pointing toward the drone. "It knows what we have done."

  "The Machina is not the only organization behind time travel," the original Linda said, stepping ahead of the other five versions of herself and stopping in front of Wyatt. "There are more organizations involved than just the Machina."

  "But the Machina is not just an organization," Wyatt said. "There is a huge computer behind it."

  The original Linda laughed. "You sound like Lenny," she said. "Are you so certain you know what is happening that you would risk it?"

  Wyatt looked toward Aldan over his left shoulder. His heart hammered in his chest, and he didn't know how to answer her question. Rather than try to answer it, he settled on a different question for her. "Who told you we were ruining time travel?"

  The original Linda shook her head. "That's another question I can't answer."

  "Is that because you don't know?" Avery asked.

  "Was it Jarod Whiting?" Jeremy asked, his voice louder than Avery'
s and silencing all of them for a moment.

  The original Linda started to shake her head, but the one in the dark brown coat made a noise. When the coatless, original Linda looked at her, the Linda in the dark brown coat shook her head as the Linda in the white coat spoke up.

  "You think the Machina is the only computer designed for this?" the Linda in the white coat said. "As soon as time travel became a thing, the world started to change. Time travel may not exist without forming paradoxes."

  The original Linda turned back toward Wyatt. "The Machina's original purposes have been lost," she said. "It was designed to predict the future disasters and allow the relief supplies to be distributed in preparation for them."

  "And that has been working," Avery said. "We've seen the supplies."

  "Of course," the Linda in the pink coat said. Now that her sleeves had been rolled up, she seemed ready to move more freely. "You've spent most of your time in the warehouse of 2039, when it all started."

  "Why will keeping us here fix it?" Avery asked.

  "We had to get out of there before your group arrived," the original Linda said. "You have to trust me. We're doing this for the good of all the world."

  "What is it you're doing?" Aldan said. "It seems like you are trying to stop us."

  "They're trying to save Jarod," Wyatt said as Brooke's words coursed through his mind. "Brooke was right to worry about him."

  The original Linda shook her head. "We're trying to stop the changes you will make. You caused paradoxes. Too many may be trapped in a loop that never ends."

  Wyatt's breath caught in his throat as her eyes shifted toward his when she finished speaking. He shook his head and glanced toward Aldan and Jeremy. "I haven't done any of this," he said. "Someone else started the changes."

  "We know how you feel about it," three of the Linda's said in unison. The versions of Linda in pink, brown, and white coats spoke, while the others seemed to close in.

  "What made you send an older Jarod to the future and leave a younger version without time travel?" The white-coated Linda stepped closer.

  "What was I supposed to do?" Wyatt asked. He spread his arms to the sides.

  Jeremy and Aldan both folded their arms, but Avery seemed to be looking at her wrist terminal. She shifted sideways to stand closer and a little behind Jeremy. Wyatt wondered what she had planned and decided it would be best to try and distract the versions of Linda.

  "What role does Jarod Whiting have in this?" Wyatt asked.

  The original Linda shook her head, still smiling. "That man is stuck," she said as her eyes shot toward the other versions. "We're helping him."

  "What does Hannah Stephenson have to do with this?" Wyatt asked the question slowly and watched the way the different versions of Linda reacted. Just the fact that there were six versions of Linda in the same place had to mean something.

  "She has nothing to do with us," the original Linda said, but it was after she had looked toward the Linda in the pink coat. The Linda in the pink coat had been smiling, but as soon as Wyatt asked about Hannah, her smile faded.

  All six of the versions of Linda turned toward each other, almost forgetting about Wyatt, Aldan, Jeremy, and Avery.

  Wyatt's questions had scared them, he thought. He had seen Hannah's involvement. He wondered how many groups were working with time travel. All of them seemed to be making messes.

  "It seems like at least one of you thinks she has some involvement," Wyatt said as his mind began to suffer with resonance. The sensation grew until he had to blink away the dizziness. The headache grew, but he tried not to look over his shoulder toward Avery.

  The original Linda's smile faded as she turned back from the other five versions of herself. Her eyes shot toward Wyatt then Aldan as Aldan began to cough.

  The resonance began to fade again, except for the headache. Wyatt looked over his shoulder and saw he was alone with Aldan. Jeremy and Avery had gone.

  "What did you do?" the original Linda asked.

  "You really can't feel the resonance, can you?" Wyatt asked, backing sideways to stand closer to Aldan.

  "If you can't feel it, you won't know when time travel is used," Aldan said.

  Wyatt nodded toward him before turning back toward Linda. A new thought had begun in his mind, and it scared him. As he turned his gaze back on the Linda's he saw their smile. "Oh no," he said and heard Aldan curse.

  "We were prepared for that," the original Linda said. "We have intercepted them." She smiled broadly and held up two wrist terminals. "You seriously need to trust me."

  "Trust you," Aldan said. "You just ruined Avery and Jeremy and you want us to trust you." He stepped closer to the original Linda, lowering his arms.

  For only a second, her smile faded, and she looked frightened by him. But the Linda in the pink coat moved to her side.

  "Stop," the pink coated Linda said, holding her hands up. "We're not the enemy here."

  "Then who is?" Wyatt asked. "Where would we find Avery and Jeremy?"

  "You can't help them," the pink coated Linda said. "But they are together. So, you are going to have to work with us."

  "No," Aldan said.

  Wyatt watched Aldan's arms tense as he balled his hands into fists.

  "Don't do that," the original Linda said. "Attacking me won't help you."

  "But I'll feel better," Aldan growled back as he stepped forward another step.

  The original Linda backed up the same distance, her smile looking more forced.

  "This is the way this has happened all the other times," the pink coated Linda said. "But we stopped Avery and Jeremy from getting back here."

  "Hand over your wrist terminals," the original Linda said.

  "That's the way it happened last time," the white-coated Linda said. She sounded tired. "This isn't working."

  "Shut up," the original Linda said. "Now give us your wrist terminals."

  "No," Aldan said, stepping in front of Wyatt. He didn't look back over his shoulder at Wyatt. He seemed to have a plan. "Tell me who put you up to this, and maybe we'll work with you."

  The original Linda shook her head.

  Aldan let out a laugh and balled his fists tight enough his knuckles turned white. Wyatt used that moment to rub his wrist terminal, he rolled it back a few minutes from the last setting but didn't look at it. The fact that the other Linda's had gone after and found Avery and Jeremy bothered him.

  That had to be the reason there were six versions of Linda in the group. The original Linda must have tried this once and had it fail. It seemed she had enlisted the help of the other versions of herself.

  The one in white seemed the most experienced with this. She looked exhausted and not as confident as the others.

  "How many times have you tried to trap us here?" Wyatt asked that Linda in white, watching as the brown-coated version stepped around closer to him. Both seemed to know he was trying to distract them. His words brought the white-coated and brown-coated versions closer. Did that mean that activating his portal would bring him to the same fate Avery and Jeremy had faced?

  He shook his head and let the brown coated Linda step closer on his right.

  "Who told you to do this to us?" Aldan demanded. "Why are you attacking us?"

  "We're not attacking you," the original Linda said, her smile still appearing forced. "We're here to stop the world from falling apart. You have to trust us. Once we fix this, we'll let you go, but not with wrist terminals."

  "The fact you keep saying that seems to mean we never trust you," Wyatt said. The brown-coated Linda had moved closer. He knew that activating his portal and leaving might make him suffer the same fate as Avery and Jeremy, but he wondered what would happen if he activated the portal and pushed the brown-coated Linda through.

  Would one of the six versions of Linda remember that happening? How much could he change their past?

  He wanted to step back from all the versions of Linda. He wanted to know why the older version of Aldan had said she
was important. There were too many things he didn't quite understand. Nothing seemed to fit together. He missed Brooke and Hannah.

  "Have you been removing the people I know?" Wyatt asked.

  The original Linda looked at him quizzically.

  "We have only been making things right," the brown-coated Linda said. "You have to trust me."

  "I don't think we will ever trust you," Aldan said.

  Wyatt activated his portal, saw it blossom behind the brown-coated Linda and charged at her. She let out a yelp as he pushed her through the portal and dove to the side.

  The portal closed as the resonance hit him, but he wasn't done yet. He heard Aldan cough to his side as Wyatt lay on his stomach rolling his wrist terminal back to just before 6:00 am. From the ground, he scanned it to make sure it showed 5:45 am. and waited for the resonance to pass.

  He was already on the ground, so the dizziness didn't bother him as much. As it passed, he heard something he didn't expect.

  The pink-coated Linda laughed lightly. "That was good," she said. "That's how I lost that brown coat. It's so hard to let things happen the way you remember. Now, get up and don't do that again."

  "You saw that happen that way?" the original Linda asked. "What else have you not told us?"

  "It doesn't get much better," the Linda in white said.

  The pink-coated Linda laughed again and turned toward that original version of herself. "If I tell you all that will happen, I could risk losing control of the situation."

  "You haven't seen all I have seen," the Linda in the white coat said.

  Wyatt used her tired words as a distraction. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the white drone buzzing overhead. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he rolled to his left, away from them. No one seemed to notice as he activated his portal and pulled himself through.

  CHAPTER thirty-two

  DIRT ROAD, R720RS

  SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2040, 5:45 AM

  The dirt was cold in the darkness, and the resonance didn't end as Wyatt's portal closed. Someone else had to be nearby, but all he could do was crawl until he found the edge of the road.